Oversight panel joining IRS probe

The House Ways and Means Committee gets the first shot at grilling Internal Revenue Service over the targeting of Tea Party–style conservative groups, but expect to see Rep. Darrell Issa’s Oversight Committee conduct similar sessions.

Issa, R-Vista, was among the first members of Congress to request an inspector general to probe the IRS action that went on for close to two years even though it had been deemed inappropriate.

The Ways and Means Committee session on Friday will conduct the first congressional hearing since the IRS confirmed the practice with Steve Miller, IRS acting commissioner, and J. Russell George, the inspector general for tax administration, as its only witnesses.

Issa’s panel is expected to call witnesses with direct, first-hand knowledge of what was happening.

The inspector general report on the IRS action was released Tuesday and found the agency relied on “inappropriate criteria” when screening group’s seeking tax-exempt status. Singled out were groups with the words “Tea Party" or “Patriot” in their name.

That, the report said, "gives the appearance that the IRS is not impartial in conducting its mission.

"Today's report magnifies our concerns about the breadth and depth of the Internal Revenue Service 's targeting of organizations for their political beliefs," Issa said. "Unfortunately, the report raises more questions than it answers. What we do know for sure is that the IRS personnel responsible for granting tax exemptions systematically targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny and officials in Washington, D.C., were aware of this practice, even while publically claiming that it never happened."

Issa sent a nine-page letter to the IRS Tuesday that included his assessment that agency officials "provided false or misleading information on four separate occasions last year" in response to committee inquiries.

Issa also told Fox News Tuesday that agency officials told him in a briefing that nearly 500 groups were flagged for extra scrutiny, far more than the estimated 300 that IRS officials cited last week.

It’s not yet clear when the Oversight Committee hearing will take place.

Issa’s committee also has another major hearing looming in its ongoing probe of the Sept. 11, 21012, terror attack at the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

That session is expected to feature former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen. They headed a State Department Accountability Review Board inquiry into security failings at the post leading to the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens, former San Diego resident Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Ty Woods of Imperial Beach and Glen Doherty of Encinitas.

The two will be interviewed by committee attorneys prior to the hearing, which Issa has said he wants to have scheduled soon. Their willingness to sit down with the committee comes on the heels of a hearing last week featuring three State Department officials critical of security understaffing and related issues.

How long the Benghazi probe goes on is uncertain. Much will depend on what Pickering and Mullen tell investigators and the committee's access to Obama administration Benghazi documents.